How we have become a nation of email snoopers: Almost half of Britons admit reading a friend or partner's messages

Almost half of Britons admit to reading a partner's e-mails or text messages. (Posed by model)

We're living in age with access to more forms of communication than ever before.

And it seems the temptation to snoop is just too much for many of us.

Almost half of Britons admit reading a friend or partner's emails or text messages, research showed yesterday.

One in six have logged in to someone else's email or Facebook account without permission, while more than a quarter have looked at texts in secret.

A poll revealing how Britain has become a nation of digital snoopers also found that seven per cent are doing so regularly, at least once a month.

It showed that women were more suspicious - or just plain nosy - than men. They read a partner or friend's emails or text messages seven times a year on average, compared to just four times by men.

Overall 46 per cent have spied on the texts or emails of someone close.

The worst offenders are in the North East, with those questioned admitting to doing so more than 12 times each year, the survey of 1,000 adults for car insurance giant esure found.

Many are also using social networking websites to snoop on their children. More than a third confessed to checking up on their offspring on sites such as Facebook and Bebo.

Nearly half the women surveyed said they used the sites to see what their children's friends were like, compared to just under a third of men.

One in three women have used the sites to vet a child's boyfriend or girlfriend. Nikki Sellers-head of home insurance at esure, said: 'While 72 per cent of Brits believe that honesty is always the best policy, it's clear that when it comes to behaviour online we do not necessarily have the same moral principles.

'Dishonest or unscrupulous behaviour in the digital world is far more commonplace than we may have first thought with hi-tech snooping within families fast becoming the norm.'

She warned users to be careful when posting information online.

The poll also found that 30 per cent have downloaded films or music illegally.